MORE NEWS, 9-16: INKING SOLAR; COMPUTER MODEL OF OCEAN POWER; IT’S AN EV BUT IS IT A CAR?; SWITCHGRASS STUDY

INKING SOLAR
JA Solar Developing Next Generation Solar Products using Silicon Ink Technology from Innovalight
September 15, 2009 (PR Newswire via Reuters)

"JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar products, today announced that it is working to commercialize a new generation of high-performance solar products using silicon ink technology from Innovalight, Inc.

"Innovalight, Inc., a privately held firm based in Sunnyvale, Calif. recently announced that it has demonstrated a record 18 percent conversion efficiency using silicon ink technology and conventional silicon wafers. Results were independently certified by two of the world's recognized solar cell testing centers, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Germany."

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"JA Solar is currently developing silicon ink-based high efficiency solar cells at its R&D pilot line in Yangzhou, China with plans for initial commercialization in 2010…"

From dopheed34 via YouTube

"JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar cells. The company sells its products to solar manufacturers worldwide, who assemble and integrate solar cells into modules and systems that convert sunlight into electricity for residential, commercial, and utility-scale power generation…

"Innovalight is a privately held firm based in Sunnyvale, Calif. Based on silicon-ink technology, the company is developing low-cost, high-performance technologies to produce lower cost solar cells. Innovalight is venture capital backed and has also received significant development funds from the United States Department of Energy…"


COMPUTER MODEL OF OCEAN POWER
ANSYS Harnessing the Power of Ocean Waves
September 2, 2009 (Business Wire via Reuters)

"ANSYS, Inc., a global innovator of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes…is helping transform the relentless forces of waves into electricity. Green Ocean Energy Ltd, a U.K.-based renewable energy company, is using technology from ANSYS to develop devices that will reliably generate renewable power from the motion of the seas [without needing to spend months building a $3 million dollar prototype]…Green Ocean Energy identified the advanced engineering simulation tools from ANSYS as a critical element in getting the product to market in a cost-effective and timely manner."

A wave farm of Green Ocean Energy's Ocean Treaders (artist's rendering), developed with computer modeling by ANSYS. (click to enlarge)

"…Green Ocean Energy is developing two innovative devices that will harness the waters of the north Atlantic: the Ocean Treader and Wave Treader. They are designed to bob on the surface of the ocean while waves cause attached floating arms to move up and down to power on-board generators. Electricity is sent back to shore via underwater cables. Each machine is designed to produce 500 KW of electricity - enough to power 125 homes - so a farm of 30 such devices would have a rating of 15 MW."

Green Ocean Energy's Wave Treader, developed with computer modeling by ANSYS. (click to enlarge)

"Hydrodynamic and structural [virtual prototyping] tools from ANSYS are being applied to address one of the primary challenges: reaching a balance between structural strength and weight restrictions. With an expected 25-year design life, the machines must withstand rough waters and gale-force winds; conversely, structural members must be lightweight to keep production costs within budget and to allow for sufficient floatation…

"Though the idea of wave-powered energy has captured the imagination for centuries, this renewable energy source has not been economically feasible till recently…[Green Ocean Energy has leverage solutions from ANSYS to reach their business objectives]…"


IT’S AN EV BUT IS IT A CAR?
Debate Arises on 3 Wheeler
Stephen Power, September 14, 2009 (Wall Street Journal)

"Is a three-wheeled vehicle an automobile? That question is at the center of a vigorous lobbying effort in Washington…Aptera 2e [is] a machine that looks like a cross between a Cessna plane and a tricycle…[from] Aptera Motors Inc…[The California company] wants to borrow $75 million from a Department of Energy program created by Congress in 2007 to speed development of fuel-efficient cars.

"Aptera's backers include some big-money donors to the Democratic Party, and its quest for help has received a boost from a group of mostly California lawmakers who want to help a home-state enterprise. Allies of Detroit's big auto makers are lined up against them…The DOE ruled last year that the electric 2e didn't qualify under the $25 billion loan program…[becaues the] three-wheeled vehicle doesn't meet the definition of an automobile under federal law…[T]he absence of a fourth wheel was critical to maximizing the vehicle's aerodynamics [according to Aptera]."

From greentechmedia via YouTube

"Enter Congress. A provision in a spending bill approved by the House before its August recess would expand eligibility for the loan program to include any fully enclosed vehicle designed to carry two adults and that averages at least 75 miles a gallon. Those criteria would cover Aptera's [100-mile per electrical charge] vehicle…The legislation, which must still be reconciled with a Senate bill and signed by President Barack Obama, [requires DOE to reconsider rejected applications]…

"Aptera's [California-based and longtime Democratic Party contributing] investors include Idealab Inc., a technology incubator…the philanthropic arm of Google…the Quercus Trust…and the family of James Simons, chairman of Renaissance Technologies…[The reconsideration legislation, however,was] originally proposed by a Republican congressman, Brian Bilbray, whose district is home to Aptera…"

The Tesla got DOE money. There's no reason the Aptera shouldn't. It's very similar, give or take a wheel. (click to enlarge)

"Aptera's quest for federal help raises a bigger question about Washington's effort to subsidize fuel-efficient vehicles: How much of the money should go to traditional companies with the most customers, versus start-ups with unorthodox ideas?

"…A DOE spokeswoman said the Obama administration hadn't taken a position on the provision [but favors backing a full range of technologies]...So far, the agency has awarded roughly $8 billion in loans to three companies: Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors, a California start-up."


SWITCHGRASS STUDY
Switchgrass-to-biofuel test now in second year; Successful stands are more than three feet tall; no harvesting for now
September 14, 2009 (AP via MSNBC)

"…[R]esearchers in the Oklahoma Panhandle…[want] to determine if making ethanol from switchgrass is cost effective…[and if] small-scale experiments of using the tall, thin plant native to the Great Plains to make ethanol can be duplicated on a large scale…[and if those] involved in its production could make a profit…[C]ellulosic ethanol is likely years away from commercial use, especially at the level of traditional corn-based ethanol… Ethanol, an alcohol obtained from the fermentation of sugars and starches, is used as an additive to or a replacement for petroleum-based fuels.

"The $2.2 million [1,000 acre] experiment, a project of the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center…began last year with the planting of switchgrass on three fields [some fallow, some recently harvested, some irrigated, some not, using 4 different types of seeds, is] near Guymon, a town 100 miles north of Amarillo, Texas…"

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"Unlike corn, switchgrass doesn't need to be replanted each year. It also takes less tractor fuel and fertilizer to produce, can be grown on marginal land and doesn't require as much water…[and] switchgrass isn't used for food…[which] means it wouldn't drive up grocery prices…a sticking point in the wide-scale production of corn-based ethanol…Cellulose, the main ingredient in a plant cell's walls, is the most common organic compound in the world…

"The nation's [2007] renewable fuel standard [calls for 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into gasoline in 2009 and 36 billion gallons by 2022, ensuring] demand…[T]hat standard caps the amount of [corn] ethanol…at 15 billion gallons in 2015. By 2022, 16 billion gallons have to come from cellulosic feedstocks…"

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"…[T]he type of feedstocks used in production of cellulosic biofuels could differ by region…switchgrass [is] viable in the Great Plains, wood chips could be used in the Pacific Northwest…[A May EPA analysis found] the production of 900 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass is economically feasible by 2022…[most from] Oklahoma…[and some] from West Virginia and New Hampshire.

"…The [3 varieties of] successful switchgrass…are now 3 to 3 1/2 feet tall, and researchers likely won't cut the grass this year. In the first year after planting, about a quarter to a third of the switchgrass stand's eventual yield can be harvested. That number jumps to about two-thirds after the second year and 100 percent after the third year, which would be 2011…Abengoa Bioenergy Corp., the North American division of a company based in Spain, plans to start construction early next year on a $300 million biorefinery in Hugoton, Kan., about 35 miles from Guymon. Completion is expected by early 2012…"